Creating Wall Art from Photographs

[JoPho]

Time to say goodbye to the old dated artwork in our lounge room and update.

I was thinking about using some of my own photos, but must say I have seen others who do this and overall, while the photos are nice the overall aesthetics is not so good. Often I think they choose images that are too dark, or the wrong colour or are mismatched.

Wondering if anyone would like to share tips and hints to help create a feature piece/pieces for a typical suburban loungeroom wall.

Would love to see what others may have come up with that worked..or what to avoid! :)

[Mark L]

Will be interested in what others have to say (hopefully).
It's time for us to refill some spaces also. I'd like to use my photos.
Presentation is the decision to be made.
What I like, and what my better half likes varies though.
I'm thinking visitors will be impressed anyway, if they bother looking. You must use images you will enjoy over and over again. It's your wall after all.

[AVALANCHE]

Don't be in a rush to fill the space with works, you have desire for this so just wait and it will happen over time in bits and pieces.

Your works and friends that give you their stuff as gifts...if you are not getting art works from friends as gifts, start the ball rolling and give out framed prints of your stuff.

[JoPho]

Avalanche, funnily enough the thing that got the ball rolling was other people using my photos for their wall art..one gave me a print they took off me and made a frame for it for my birthday. Took me by surprise! I hang it on the wall and admire the hand made frame! LOL

[ricktas]

Have you ever thought of turning the entire wall into one great big photo?

Friends of mine recently had a wall in their open plan living area covered in photo wallpaper. It is a lush rainforest scene. At first I found it really in my face, but as I have visited them more, it works, and it works wonderfully. It conveys a sense of being in nature, inside their home. I now find the feature wall so relaxing.

http://www.customwalls.com.au/

However, for me, I have my photos up all over the place. They are not all there to be visually impacting for the occasional visitor, many are photos of my pets and family. One of my mum carrying the Olympic torch probably gets the most comments. I like photos in a home to convey something about the family that live there. Certainly I have 'show' pieces, but for me a scattering of show pieces and personal pieces is what turns a show house, into a home.

[JoPho]

Rick, good points.
I'd never thought of wall paper, good idea. Love the examples shown on their site.

[wanderer51]

While Rick does make some good points and there is some great examples on that site, I have always been in two minds about a feature wall covered in a giant photo. My thoughts on this idea are probably coloured by some horrendous examples from the 1980's, particularly the tropical beach with the leaning palm tree, the Autumn scene and the Butte/Mesa type of scene.
Another problem I have with the idea is what if I don't like it after a while? It would be a major, not to mention expensive, operation to remove and replace it, whereas with a framed print (even a large one) the image could be taken out and replaced easily. So I would have to really love an image before I could commit an entire wall to it.
By the same token, I am not really keen on walls covered in multiple prints/photos, preferring the minimalist style of only one or two (small or large) and then preferably ones that 'blend' into the background. Ultimately though, it is up to the individual as to what they do, after all it is for your pleasure, not everyone/anyone else's!

[old dog]

good advice everyone. A full wall...wow....love to see that. I recently saw a poster or slightly larger print of a side alley and it looked fantastic and when looking at it I thought ...well some of mine from trips would look fantastic also in this size. As yet, unprinted. I keep saying that I will print a good size one from each trip we have done and yet there is nothing on the wall. Deciding which one...hmmmm. I think to do a realy big one, like a full wall you would have to do a panorama to get a much bigger image size....am I right here?

[nimrodisease]

I think to do a realy big one, like a full wall you would have to do a panorama to get a much bigger image size....am I right here?
Generall speaking yes, but there would be exceptions.. you need to think about from what distance it will be viewed from vs how large the wall is. This will determine what sort of image resolution you will be after. There are various formulas that can give you a rough idea of this, and you should be able to find them online.

Edit: that website actually has some FAQs about image sizes you could check out if you're interested in their specific product: http://www.customwalls.com.au/node/7

My lounge room (and my home in general) is decorated with photos all over the place. I tend to pick up second hand frames from Salvo's for a few dollars a pop (mostly 4x6, 5x7 or 8x10) and put pictures in them, sometimes you get some quite nice ones and I like the eclectic feel. I have a few bigger prints on the walls aswell, including a couple on metal (from Bay Photo) which look great. For the bigger prints you have to be careful what photos you choose, to make sure the mood and colours of the image will suit your room.

[old dog]

thanks John for that info. I will check that site out.

[fess67]

My wife recently relocated her business (a travel agency) and we decided to make the walls a feature using the wallpaper route. We used a company called Pickawall. We used a mix of stock photos and some I had taken. I think it works well for a business, not sure if it would work well in the home although for a small wall it may be good and not too in your face. My wife and I designed the walls and were able to put it up with very little drama.

[Mark L]

Like the idea of those filmstrips fess.

[cale]

Try houzz.com. Search for photographs, they have some great decorating infotmation on different ways to use photos in the home. :)

[Niki]

Try houzz.com. Search for photographs, they have some great decorating infotmation on different ways to use photos in the home. :)

I LOVE that site, but when I go on there I can lose an hour easy- be warned!

[JoPho]

Niki... I think you have lead me to my inspiration....Fiat Lux by Ansel Adams, nature inspired black and white trilogy.. yeah yeah... makes it look easy..but..be fun trying. :p

[cale]

Lol. I know what you mean. :)

[fess67]

Like the idea of those filmstrips fess.

Thanks Mark. They were not originally in the plan but we could not make the main images fit the wall properly without stretching some pretty iconic landmarks so I came up with the idea of the filmstrips to constrain the main feature but it does work well to promote other sights to go see. To the right, out of shot, is the Europe wall with a nice shot of Tower Bridge in London and again bordered by film strips :)

[bricat]

I have A4 prints from my Epson 510 on reasonable quality paper then covered them in clear plastic. Just about all are include family, pets and friends of the places we visited, birthday parties etc. They are on a wall that is not in your face so visitors say hello before they see the photo's. They are all side by side top to bottom with no gaps. Removed them to paint the house and did not get replaced. Message to self: redo wall..... cheers Brian PS Only have to please myself and family so not fussed by wall full of photo's